Champaign Central Wrestling: Good Ol’ Bear Wrestling

The wrestling season is beginning and now is better than ever. Wrestling is a very rewarding sport, you do need to be strong physically and mentally if you want to be successful. Coaches train the wrestlers to be strong physically, but mental strength comes from the wrestlers themselves. 

Prime examples of this are senior wrestler Asher Kotowski and sophomore wrestler Ronald Baker. They are both very physically strong, but their mental fortitude is their best strength. When you watch them wrestle he will have the same expression on his face: win or lose which can be hard as losing can feel terrible, but you also don’t want to get so caught up in a win. 

Senior wrestler Isaiah Yoakum, who has been wrestling for seven years, thinks that this season will be a good one for the wrestling team especially with Kotowski and Baker. He also has advice for the first year wrestlers, “they may not be too good now, but if they listen to their teammates and coaches, I’m sure they’ll improve”. 

One of these first year wrestlers being Jonah Konstanty who thinks that this season will be a fun season and he’s ready to learn how to be a better wrestler. When asked how much he’s learnt so far he said, “I’ve already learned so much in just a few weeks, especially from Isaiah”. He also plans to keep on wrestling based on how enjoyable it is, but doesn’t know if he’ll pursue it after high school.

Second year wrestler, Rowan King, also has high hopes for the season. When asked how he’ll do in his second year compared to his first year he said, “I’m going to be considerably better and the team will also be considerably better.” He also thinks that the first year wrestlers will be fun to watch with a few being ones that he recruited.

The new season began on November 7 with a new wrestling room to boot. The JV team will have the first meet of the season on November 22 against Unity High School. The Varsity team will have their first meet on November 30 against Peoria and Normal West. The first tournament of the season will be the Civic Memorial Holiday Tournament on December 3 at Civic Memorial High School in Bethalto, Illinois.